Kay Bailey Hutchison: “This bill has been cleared by unanimous consent. It is a very important step in securing our homeland. We have taken…”

“This bill has been cleared by unanimous consent. It is a very important step in securing our homeland. We have taken great strides to secure our airports and the passenger screening is quite thorough. Everybody has to smile when you say that, because anyone who has flown in America in the last 6 months has certainly been subjected to a lot of scrutiny. I have certainly been frisked. I have had my shoes taken off, all of those things that drive people crazy. But the bottom line is, we do have a safer system. We got the wake-up call on 9/11 of 2001. We have taken extraordinary steps to secure our country and our aviation system. Anyone who says our system is not safer today than it was on September 10 of 2001 either has not flown or is being disingenuous. I would like to thank Admiral Loy at the Transportation Security Administration, and certainly Secretary Mineta and President Bush for their strong leadership in homeland and transportation security. We are going to do everything we can to make sure our people are safe.”